Tag: Chili powder

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Lawmakers hurled chairs, thick books and stinging chile powder at one another as violence and chaos erupted again on the floor of Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Friday. At least four lawmakers and several police officers were injured. The proceedings were carried live on TV and beamed across the island nation. The trouble began when lawmakers allied to Mahinda Rajapaksa, a former president who, in a contentious move, was appointed prime minister last month, arrived in the chamber early and occupied the speaker’s chair. The lawmakers broke microphones and staged mock sessions. They also blocked the mace, a gold-tipped ebony staff that is the symbol of authority, from being brought into the chamber to begin the session. Dozens of policemen marched in. The government has been paralyzed by a three-way duel between Maithripala Sirisena, the president; Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime minister who was summarily deposed by the president in October; and Mr. Rajapaksa, considered the strongman of Sri Lankan politics. “But there was also so much to be proud of,” she added, saying that the speaker and the police officers showed enormous bravery and would fall “on the right side of history.” After the vote, Mr. Rajapaksa left the chamber to a cacophony of hoots. Mr. Sirisena had claimed on Thursday that he would accept the result of the vote, but by Friday he seemed to be wavering again.